20 Reps of Proust Q&A with actor Ian Bohen

"Doing the job is easy. Getting the job is hard."

For the third newsletter, we are doing something different. During my career, I have had the privilege of meeting many talented people who have inspired and motivated me with both their work and work ethic; good people worth championing, and whose unique perspectives could be invaluable to you. So, every third newsletter we will showcase a different person working in the arts, answering an ‘Artist’s Gym’ spin on the Proust questionnaire.

The Proustian questionnaire is a set of a questions answered by the French novelist Marcel Proust in the style of a confessional album. This subsequently became a popular parlour game in the late nineteenth century, answered by such figures as Oscar Wilde and Paul Cézanne. Ours is a pithier, snappier version dubbed the ‘20 Reps of Proust’ - twenty questions on art, habits, and career.

Our first guest is actor, Ian Bohen, currently starring in the neo-Western television series Yellowstone on the Paramount Network, and the recently rebooted Teen Wolf movie streaming on Paramount +. There are myriad reasons why I asked Ian to do the Q&A first, but none more so than something he said to me several years ago, “Doing the job is easy. Getting the job is hard.” The trials of a creative life are many, and often you can be doing brilliant work and still not getting the job. This is the life, so it is vital not only to not get disheartened, but to stay in the lab and work on your craft, so that when your moment comes, you are ready to seize it. Keep hammering the wall until you break through, and under no circumstances, believe that you will figure it out when you ‘arrive’. Doing the job is only easy provided you have spent years honing your craft. You need to be a professional before you become a professional.

As a grown man (especially a British one), it is frowned upon to be overtly complimentary to another man’s face, so a drawn-out celebration of their talent is frankly, unacceptable. Therefore, what I am about to write about Ian Stuart Bohen, will result in my not answering his calls for two to three years.

I first met Ian at a dinner ten years ago at The Eveleigh on Sunset Boulevard. The consensus was that nobody dresses up in LA, but given that nothing irks me quite like adult males who still dress like they’re in junior high school, I did my own thing and arrived in a tailored suit, sans tie. As I stride in, I am introduced to my new dining companions and one man… is wearing a tie. Everyone else is dressed like they’re en route to a keg party and this beautiful bastard is not only wearing a tie… he’s wearing a fucking tiepin. A fluorescent pink tiepin. One accent of colour in otherwise muted tones… he’d crossed genres. Immediately I thought, “Who the hell is this guy treading on my sartorial turf?” which is an interesting perspective for a jetlagged twentysomething who only landed in the country about four hours earlier. But as I silently cursed myself for not even owning a tiepin, one thing was abundantly clear… either Ian and I were going to be great friends or he had unwittingly declared himself my nemesis. Fortunately, it was the former.

We had been friends for some time before I realised that one of my favourite cameos in Mad Men was actually him. I always remembered the beatnik Roy Hazelitt from the first season, because it felt like a pivotal moment in the show; when the all-encompassing consumerism of Madison Avenue first crossed paths with the anti-materialist movement of the Beat generation. It could so easily have been a caricature – a gaudy Kerouac knockoff – but his performance was effortlessly subtle and quietly thoughtful. Once I realised this was Ian, I rewatched the episodes and still couldn’t see him. It is such a treat to admire a friend’s talent, but for them to disappear into a role so completely that you don’t even recognise them, is a hell of a thing. (N.B. He will later dispute his own disappearing ability, but then he is wrong.)

In Taylor Sheridan’s directorial debut Wind River, Ian graduated to scene stealer. From the moment his Sheriff Deputy character stops and says, “Why are you flanking me?” he’s just so fucking good that it makes the entire climax of the film. Those that know me know I do not deal in empty praise, so believe me when I say that Ian turns what might’ve been a forgettable, functionary part into something integral to the patina and quality of the movie. For me, the movie is that scene and Jon Bernthal; and the reason that Ian (and Bernthal for that matter) is so good, is that he is ostensibly a character actor who delivers with the charisma of a leading man. Okay, that’s the compliments over, now let’s never speak of this again.

This aphorism came at a point where Ian’s major successes were still to be had, while doing a self-taped audition that I thought he was too good for, and when he had already been doing this for fifteen plus years. But the moment the words escaped him, I knew that it was only a matter of time. He understood the nature of the game. Talent may rule, but persistence plus talent is what counts. So, who better to crank out the first 20 Reps of Proust than he, a man who is today, reaping the benefits of action and preparation he put in years ago.

20 Reps of Proust - with Ian Bohen

1. What is your idea of professional happiness?

I don’t differentiate between personal and professional happiness. They are inexorably linked in my life. A man find purpose in his work and family and strives to be his absolute best every day. When successful, there’s a satisfaction that nothing else can replace, and the work has bought him his time to enjoy the rest of the world around him. That’s what makes me happy.

2. What is your favourite quality in yourself as an artist?

I don’t consider myself an artist. I would never call myself that, but as a puzzle piece in the mosaic of film production goes, I suppose I most admire how I’ve been able to change my attitude for the better as I’ve gotten older. This has been the greatest advantage I’ve had navigating the industry and achieving some success. Another way of saying it would be an ability to adapt.

3. What is the trait you most deplore in your work?

The list is long but distinguished. When I cringe at my work it’s usually seeing myself without any originality. I think ‘that’s the same asshole from the other show,’ nothing is different. I wish I could be unrecognizable and disappear in a performance. Daniel Day-Lewis does that; a lot to live up to but why not aspire. A close second is when I get lazy and end up moving my face around in an attempt to seem interesting. We call it ‘mugging’ in the business. It’s ridiculous.

4. What is the quality you most like in another actor?

I love stillness. It’s remarkably underrated. If you stop looking inward and instead watch the person in front of you and listen you become very interesting to watch, because you’re interested in something exterior. It’s entirely unselfish, which is why most actors can’t do it. When I work with someone still like this, I can watch them endlessly and I wind up forgetting when it’s my turn to talk because I’ve become entranced. The people who master this become movie stars.

5. What is the trait you most deplore in other collaborators?

I think a self-centeredness can be deadly on a set where people have to be a team and trust one another. Actors who go off script to try and bolster their own person in a scene really get under my skin. I suppose it’s the opposite of what I said was my favorite characteristic of a performer to work with.

6. Which living artist do you most admire?

I would have to say the most impressive contemporary artist in my orbit is Taylor Sheridan.

7. How do you survive the trials of a creative life?

I’ve learned how to approach difficult and uncomfortable situations with the mind set of, ‘what can I accomplish in these circumstances?’ Once your perspective is one of benefit and positivity, the trials quickly become opportunities. This way of thinking has changed my entire life, and it’s no small coincidence that my professional success started gaining altitude once applied.

8. How do you deal with your successes?

I try to remember that I’m always one bad move away from losing everything I’ve worked for. I think this keeps me pretty grounded. I know that on paper, and looking back from the future at my work one would probably argue that, that guy was a pretty successful actor. But I don’t think it’s much of a big thing really. I will add one thing that they never teach you in all those years of acting classes: what to do when you achieve what you set out to do. The mental game really kicks in here and you’ve got to be ready.

9. Have you ever lied or wilfully deluded yourself about your career/work?

I could be doing it right now. But seriously the most insidious lie that EVERY actor has ever told themselves is the same one. That you’re not good enough. Death from within. This one is very difficult to overcome. It’s a nagging demon you can’t beat. All you can do is outlast it. It’s a chess match of attrition between your mind and your shadow. You never defeat it, but you can outlast it.

10. Which other talent would you most like to cultivate?

I wish I could sing. I’d love to play music to people on stage and hear them singing it back to me. Cliche, I know, but don’t worry I’m not ditching the camera for a microphone. I’m far too vain to start from scratch.

11. If you could improve one thing about yourself as an actor, what would it be?

I have an issue with perfectionism in my work and what I create. Often times, it precludes me from accomplishing things for want of flawlessness. This is an obstacle that has really hindered me moving forward with my own projects and one I’m hoping to conquer soon.

12. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

First thought is my arrival at self-awareness and the understanding of how I fit in the world as I am and what I’m capable of. I don’t see any major accomplishments in my past that stand out as being achievements of any kind. The resolve that it took to get where I am, and the character that I built along the way, I’d say that’s what I’m most proud of. Also, I’ll add that I count heaps of failure in this process, and overcoming those are a huge part of any life achievement.

13. What is your most treasured memory of your craft?

I had worked on and off for almost 25 years before I got my first series regular contract offer. I found out one day when I was at a cafe in New York City alone. It was fucking magic. I sat at the bar and heard someone on the other line tell me the news. The light was ebbing into the gold of the evening, and I felt like this was the moment I had been struggling to reach my entire life. I called my mom. I think we both cried.

14. What do you regard as the lowest moment of your career?

Where to start? I had the lead role in a series deal to take me to play foil wielding d’Artagnon in Germany for years to come. Bags packed, ‘German for beginners,’ handbook by my side; the project lost funding and was cancelled days before departure. Each subsequent low had the uncanny ability to squash the previous one in depth and duration. Years later I was fired by arguably the highest profile director in film during production. I thought my career was over. This one birthed a couple of months of soul searching and nearly ended with a complete departure from the industry.

15. Who are your favourite artists?

In no particular order: Caravaggio. Michelangelo. Bernini. Spielberg. Ayn Rand. Daniel Day-Lewis. Helen Mirren. The Beatles.

16. Who is your fitness/athletic hero in real life?

I admire Novak Djokovic for his work ethic, drive, talent and of course the triumph that he continues to display despite his circumstances. I list him first because he is still competing today, but Tiger Woods and Serena Williams are cut from the same cloth, and I regard their accomplishments just as highly.

17. What is your workout routine?

When I’m ‘On,’ I exercise every day. Weights daily and heart conditioning every other day. When I’m in a phase of, let’s say ‘non-operational,’ my workout regimen consists of raising Negronis to my face and back down again.

18. What are the pitfalls of being an aspiring or working actor that nobody tells you?

I could write volumes about what they never told me when I was starting out. Of paramount importance is the knowledge that you are sacrificing most of your future prospect with regard to conventional civilized life. Young actors spend their formative years trying to achieve something that they’re almost certainly going to fail at. And what’s worse is that when you finally decide to throw in the towel you realize that you spent the time you had to be something else in any professional setting. The industry breaks you in half and kicks you in the ass on the way out. One must learn that your identity and personal happiness cannot be tied up with your perceived success. That’s a one way ticket to the madhouse. Of course, I was too young to understand any of this so I stitched myself into knots chasing my fantasy. Good thing I got lucky. As a working actor, I wasn’t at all prepared to understand life after achieving what I had set out to do. The current chapter of this for me anyway, is keeping your ambition solid and self-motivating. Success in acting is just the very beginning.

19. What are the most important habits/skills to develop as a working actor?

Learn how to memorize lines without being rigid in your delivery. This keeps you malleable for direction which you most certainly need. Learn to listen and not speak. Then listen to the crew and learn how they each do their jobs; it will make you better at yours. Don't worry about how you feel. It’s a visual and auditory medium for the audience, no one cares how you feel. Most important!!! Acting is not a meritocracy. Success in acting isn’t about being the best actor, it’s about getting hired. If you understand how to get hired you’ll have more work than you can handle.

20. Do you have a working philosophy? And if so, how would that inform the advice you would give yourself, on day one of your acting career?

I suppose I would say to young me that this whole thing isn’t such a big deal. Don’t worry so much about it as young actors are so prone to do. Become ensconced with something in life that has more meaning than this profession. Which isn’t to say don’t try hard, but just keep this circus in its place and use it for what it is. The show will always go on.